Our Marriage License Was A Lie Chapter 09

Our Marriage License Was A Lie Chapter 09

But I couldn’t hide forever. 

Someone in town recognized me – snapped a photo and sent it straight to the tip line on that flyer. 

That afternoon, Mrs. Higgins and I were stacking firewood in 

the yard. 

The sound of engines broke the silence – unfamiliar, too loud for this place. 

Three sedans idled at the edge of town, gleaming and out of place against the old stone marker. 

Figures climbed out and headed straight for our yard. I knew 

them before they were close enough for their faces to come 

into focus. 

My parents. Julian. 

It had only been six months. They looked like they’d aged ten 

years. 

Gaunt faces, hollowed cheeks, eyes veined with red. 

They stood in the middle of the yard, staring at me in my dirt–stained work clothes like they were looking at a ghost. 

No one spoke. The silence stretched out, heavy with 

everything they wanted to say and couldn’t. 

Mrs. Higgins stepped in front of me, one arm out, eyes 

narrowed. 

“Elena,” she said quietly, “who are these people?” 

I felt nothing. Not a ripple. My voice came out flat and even. 

“I don’t know them.” 

My mother broke first. The sob ripped out of her before the 

words had even settled. 

She lunged for my hand. I jerked away like she’d burned me. 

Her hand hung in the empty air between us. The tears kept 

coming. 

“Elena – baby – we found you. We finally found you—” 

“I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. It was all our fault. Please – please 

come home.” 

My father stepped forward. 

— 

“Elena, we were wrong. We were hard on you too hard. We 

see that now.” 

“We put you through hell, and we’ll spend the rest of our lives 

making it right. Everything we have can be yours.” 

Julian moved closer. He looked like a man trying not to fall 

apart. 

“Elena, I was wrong. About everything. I shouldn’t have lied to you, and I should’ve stopped Chloe a long time ago.” 

“Chloe’s been committed. For good. She’ll never touch you again.” 

“Give me one more chance. Just one. We can start over.” 

They kept talking – apology after apology, promise after 

promise – all of it meant to drag me back into the life I’d 

crawled out of. 

Every word landed empty. 

Some things can’t be undone with an apology. They just can’t. 

I looked at all three of them, and the laugh that left me was 

pure ice. 

“Home? I don’t have one. I haven’t for years.” 

“This isn’t about making things right. It’s about you. You 

want to feel less guilty. That’s all this is.” 

“And Chloe being locked up? That’s consequences. Don’t act 

like that was some favor to me.” 

“My children are dead. Both of them. Tell me — what are you 

going to do about that? What could you possibly give me that would make that okay?” 

The words hit them like a physical blow. Every face went white. 

They opened their mouths. I didn’t let them. 

“I’ll say it one more time. I don’t know you. I’m not going 

anywhere with you.” 

I took Mrs. Higgins by the arm and turned toward the house. 

My father cut me off. His voice had changed – the grief wearing thin, the old authority pushing through. 

“Elena, hate us all you want. We’re still your parents, and we’re not leaving here without you.” 

“We’re not leaving you out here in the middle of nowhere to 

rot.” 

Julian stepped up beside him, jaw set. 

“You’re not staying here alone. Not anymore. I’m taking you 

with me today, Elena – whether you like it or not.” 

They shared a look. Then they came at me – both of them, reaching for my arms. 

I wrenched myself free and stumbled back, nearly falling. 

My phone was in my hand before I’d even made the decision to 

reach for it. I dialed 911. 

It took twenty minutes for the local deputy’s cruiser to pull up. 

Two officers stepped out. 

They took one look at the scene – my father gripping my arm, me pulling away, Mrs. Higgins shouting – and stepped 

between us.